Grateful locals welcome Wiesen Farm produce
Photo by Mimi Wheeler
By Norm Wheeler
Sun editor
After five years of primarily growing apples and nurturing their garden along, Tom and Christy Wiesen, with help from daughter Sofia, are already thriving in their first year of selling produce. After being hop growers who helped their family start the hop farm along M-72, Tom and Christy decided to branch out on their own with fruit and produce.
“Our garden has four acres of vegetables and three or four of sweet corn,” Tom explains, “and we’re selling fresh food daily to Deering’s Market and the Shipwreck Café in Empire, Anderson’s Market and Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor, plus Funistrada and La Becasse. Our goal is to feed folks in these two villages fresh produce, and we’re not really looking beyond that. We don’t really have plans to sell in Traverse City. We want to be super local and work together with the grocery stores and restaurants right around here.”
Although not certified as an organic farm by the USDA, the Wiesens use all organic growing methods. “We call ourselves a ‘sustainable farm,’” Tom adds. “We use no chemical pesticides or fertilizers, only organic.”
When asked what motivated them to start farming, Tom replies, “It’s important to know how to grow food. And it’s food for people every day, not just a single crop that goes away on a truck. It is extremely gratifying to feed a part of a village. We harvest every day and sell it every day, so it’s a perfectly fresh product.” The Wiesens maintain a close relationship with their customers, delivering to Deering’s and Shipwreck Café daily, and the other businesses several times a week.
The response from folks who stop at Wiesen’s farm stand along M-72 east of Empire has been positive. Tom says, “We’ve had an great response to the stand. Folks who live here thank us and say we are dong an incredible service to the community with our fresh food.”
“The stand helps us to keep going and providing food for people,” Christy nods. “We’ve been meeting people out here and also in town who are really appreciative.”
Right now you can buy just-picked peppers, squash and heirloom tomatoes, gourds and fresh-cut flowers, and sweet corn. Apples and pumpkins will be ready soon. They’ll have (conventionally grown) Macintosh, Gala and Honey Crisp apples, and they have 2,000 pumpkins in 15 varieties. “We’re planning a big Autumn Fest at Anderson’s in Glen Arbor, so watch for that,” Tom adds.
When you see those homemade signs along M-72 east of Empire, don’t drive by. Stop and get some of the Wiesens’ super fresh produce, or just take home a spray of vividly colored flowers. You won’t be sorry.
